Primeval Preschool
by embrace-the-deception
Summary: This came into my head and refused to leave. The Primeval gang at preschool! Characters from all seasons, cuteness all round. On-going series
1. A Typical Day

It was just another typical day at the preschool. A bright and sunny day with the sun shining down and spreading its warmth across the playground and only a few white fluffy clouds scattered in the sky. The children either played outside in the sunshine, or inside under the watchful eye of the teacher. A child ran up to the teacher sat by the window, and tugged on his sleeve.  
"Mister Lester, can I go outside?" the little girl asked.  
He smiled and nodded. He watched the girl, Helen, run outside and straight to the sandpit, where another child was sat alone, digging through the sand. He looked up and smiled when Helen approached, and within moments they were playing together. Nick, Lester remembered, was a new kid, but got along with almost everyone. There were a few rivalries between him and a few of the slightly younger kids, but nothing ever got out of hand.

On the other side of the playground ran three children, laughing and chasing each other in their game of cops and robbers. Lester noticed that it was Danny and the young dark-haired boy Becker (he insisted on being called by his last name. Lester always wondered why. The kid said he preferred it over his first name), who were the cops, yet again. Not that the robber, a quick and intelligent boy by the name of Stephen, seemed to mind. He seemed to delight in hiding and watching Becker and Danny look for him fruitlessly. Then he'd jump out, scare them and run off, the boys hot on his heels. At least once every day the three boys played that game, often more. Even when it was pouring down, they would just move their game inside, which just aggravated Lester and the other children were disrupted. Not that Lester really minded.

Lester looked to the classroom for a moment. A few children were sat playing or looking at the picture books. In the corner sat the shy little girl Jenny, who rarely left that spot. Jenny was looking up and out of the window every few moments. When Lester checked, he realised she was watching Helen and Nick in the sandpit. Nick had the odd habit of calling Jenny by the name of Claudia, apparently because he'd once had a friend who'd looked remarkably similar by the same name and had moved away a few months before starting preschool. Nick kept glancing up and through the window and smiling when he saw Jenny looking at him. Jenny ducked her head every time he saw, but Lester saw the small smile on her face.  
_Young love,_ Lester thought with a smile.

On the other side of the classroom were two other kids playing with the model dinosaurs. The slim young girl with long brown hair was Sarah, and she kept stealing the toys from the cute little boy across the table from her. Connor was one of the odder kids, always saying things that didn't make sense or just the wrong thing at the wrong time. Lester knew that kids often did that (God did he know) but Connor seemed to be better at it than anyone. He pouted when Sarah stole his toys, and promptly snatched them back.  
"That's mine!" he said, grabbing the little dinosaur.  
"But you've already got one!" Sarah argued, pointing to the identical dinosaur sat on the table in front of Connor.  
"But they're friends! You're making Sid sad!"  
Sarah grinned and gave back the toy. Connor grabbed it and set it back next to its twin.  
"What's the other one called?" Sarah asked.  
"That's Sid, and that's Harry," Connor said.  
"Harry's a stupid name. Make it a girl."  
"Girls suck."  
Sarah's bottom lip wobbled, and Lester was about to walk over and sort out the problem when another little girl with white-blond hair swept in. She ran in from outside and ran straight to the table where Connor and Sarah were sat. She and Connor were close friends.  
"Hey Connor, look at this!" she said, holding out her hand. On it was a small brown lizard, no bigger than her hand. Connor looked at it with awe and put out a hand to touch it. Sarah frowned.  
"Eww, that's gross," she said.  
"He's so cool!" Connor said breathlessly, letting the lizard crawl up his arm.  
"I'm gonna call him Rex!" the girl, Abby, said with a huge grin, taking the reptile back from her friend and closing her hand gently over it so it didn't escape "Wha'cha doin'?"  
"Connor said girls suck," Sarah said almost instantly, obviously trying to get Connor in trouble with Abby. Sarah and Connor often got into fights and Abby was always the one to work around it and solve it.  
"Did not," Connor mumbled.  
Abby, seeming to know exactly what the problem was, leant over and picked up one of the dinosaurs.  
"Cool, what's her name?" she asked.  
"Nancy," Connor said immediately, despite the fact it had been a male called Harry not ten seconds earlier.  
Abby smiled and Connor's face lit up. Sarah pouted, but didn't say anything.

Lester glanced at the clock and realised it was time to settle the children down for a nap. He stood up and stood in the doorway, calling, "Come on kids, time for a nap!"  
The boys rushed in within seconds, followed by Nick and Helen. The children all headed for the centre of the room, grabbing their pillows and heading for the empty space in the middle of the room. They moved towards the spots they'd chosen long before and settled down.

Becker and Danny chose their place and immediately started pushing each other, arguing over who was a better cop. Stephen sat next to them, grinning because he'd outwitted them yet again. Sarah seated herself beside Becker, smiling at him. Becker didn't seem to notice.  
Nick and Helen sat on their own a little way off from the others. Jenny walked over and nervously sat beside Nick. The two exchanged looks and then grinned.  
Connor and Abby had their own little spot where they sat, the small lizard still in the little girl's hand. Lester walked over and quietly told her that perhaps the lizard would like to go home. Abby nodded and ran outside depositing the animal on the wall before racing back and falling down next to Connor with a grin.

Lester looked over the children as they prepared to sleep. He smiled. It was just another typical day at the preschool.


	2. Sugar Rush

Lester growled to himself, swearing mentally to kill whoever had left the bag of fairy floss lying about. Kids and sugar didn't mix ever, especially not when they were little kids. That's when things just got out of control.

He'd sent the children outside, mainly because if they stayed inside any longer he was going to kill them, which wouldn't look good with the parents. He watched from inside as the kids raced around on a sugar-rush.

Becker and Danny were chasing each other, shooting each other with their hands, screaming loudly and laughing hysterically. Stephen was hiding from them, and whenever anyone passed he'd jump out and scare the living daylights out of them, which would send him into a fit of giggles. He loved doing it to Becker, who fell for it every time despite Stephen being in the same place all the time. Becker would jump, crazily laughed, then proceeded to 'shoot' Stephen and chase him. Stephen would run, disappear and hide until Becker gave up and returned to chasing Danny, then go back to his original hiding spot, where it would begin all over again.

Nick was bouncing up and down like someone was shaking a bottle of fizzy drink – soon the lid was going to come off and the kid was going to explode. He was jumping up and down and spinning around, giggling. Helen was running around the playground, arms outstretched and making zooming noises. The game of pretend was only interrupted when she occasionally ran into Danny or Becker and a giggling fit ensued. They'd fall to the ground, stare for a moment, then collapse into hysterical laughter. Once they stood up, they'd run back to their games and forget each other until the next time they collided again, which was often in the not-overly-large playground.

Sarah and Jenny were engaged in an all-out snowball war with Connor and Abby, only with clumps of dirt torn from the ground. Lester figured it was more of a dirt-lump war, and he knew that he was going to have to calm the kids down eventually and clean them up before the parents came to collect their children. He'd probably be fired if he let the kids go home like this. He just hoped that the kids wouldn't tell their parents about the sugar they'd gotten into. As he thought to himself, Sarah and Jenny were hiding behind two of the pillars that held the shade over the sandpit. They were grabbing dirt and grass clods from the ground and hurling it at Connor and Abby, hiding behind the other two pillars. Dirt, sand and grass flew through the air, usually missing. Every once in a while someone would be hit, and it would be accompanied by a squeal of joy and delight from the thrower, and a squeak of indignation from the one hit. Connor seemed to be overly bad at aiming, and most of his shots went far wide and missed entirely. Abby was hitting Jenny squarely with almost every hit, and Sarah was pummelling Connor with lumps of grass and dirt. The poor boy was covered almost head to toe in dirt, and grass stuck in his scruffy hair. He had a wide grin on his face, and he seemed to enjoy the game despite losing miserably.

Lester sighed. He'd let the kids run riot for a little longer. There was still a few hours until the parents arrived. He just hoped they would be calm by then. And he once the kids were gone, he was going to hunt down the person who had left that fair floss out and he was going to kill them. Slowly.


	3. Finger Painting

Lester smiled as he watched the kids work. It was almost cute to see the concentration they gave to the task at hand, some working with deliberate strokes, determined to make the best finger-painting they could. Lester sat back and just watched.

Stephen was one of the serious painters, working with dedication on his colourful, somewhat messy picture. It didn't help that Danny kept looking over and annoying him. Stephen snapped at him, threatening to ruin Danny's picture if he didn't be quiet. Danny didn't seem to take him seriously, and kept laughing at Stephen's picture. The boy, who looked furious, suddenly dipped his hand into a paint container and slapped it in the middle of Danny's painting, leaving a large blue handprint over the bright red and orange artwork. Danny just stared for a moment, and Lester stood up, knowing he would have a paint fight on his hands if he didn't sort it out. But before he could get to the two boys, Danny frowned and dunked both hands in the red paint and left a huge smear across Stephen's picture. Now the boy looked close to tears, and was moving to grab the entire container of blue paint when Lester stopped him.  
"Hey, boys, what's going on?" he asked.  
"Danny said my picture was bad!" Stephen wailed, pointing an accusing blue finger at Danny, dripping paint onto the plastic-protected floor. Danny frowned angrily.  
"He ruined my picture!" he said, pointing back at Stephen with an equally colourful finger.  
"He ruined mine!"  
"Boys," Lester warned "Danny, why did you say Stephen's picture was bad?"  
"'Cause he's funny when he gets upset. He cries," Danny said, sulking.  
Stephen looked ready to burst into tears there and then, and Lester realised he had to fix this problem quickly.  
"Why don't you two separate? Danny, go on the other side of Becker."  
The boy did as he was told, screwing up his ruined picture and tossing it in the bin before stomping over to the other side of his friend. Becker smiled, but didn't say anything. Stephen sniffed.  
"Stephen, let's get some more paper and you can start again," Lester said, getting a sheet of paper for him and setting it in front of him.  
Stephen looked up at him and gave the teacher a watery smile. Beside him, Sarah grinned and started talking to him. The boy turned to her with a smile and started to paint, the fight with Danny all but forgotten. Lester headed back to his seat where he could watch the class.

Becker was creating a very nice picture of what Lester guessed was a car. Two big blue blobs on top told him it was a police car. Danny was doing a very similar picture, only with so many colours it stopped being a police car and ended up looking like a blobby hippie van. Not that Danny minded; he seemed to like it. Meanwhile, Sarah was painting her picture of what looked like a desert, with yellow splattered across the bottom and blue above, a yellow splodge to indicate a sun. Stephen started on his picture again, using one finger to draw stick figures. He was deep in concentration, but still talked to the happily-chatting Sarah, smiling every so often.

On the other side of the table stood Nick, Helen, Jenny, Abby and Connor. The first three were huddled together, talking amongst themselves as they painted. Nick seems to be painting stick figures and houses.  
"What's that?" Jenny asked, pausing in her painting of a flower garden with messy blue, yellow and red flowers.  
"That's my house, and that's Claudia's house," Nick said, pointing to each house in turn "And that's me and that's Claudia. That's the truck that she moved away in."  
He pointed to the blob in the corner, and Jenny nodded seriously.  
Helen was busily painting a colourful picture of what appeared to be a cat, or possibly a horse. She smiled at Nick every so often, and commented on his picture. The three seemed to be having good fun with the painting.

Connor and Abby were certainly having fun. Lester sighed as he watched the pair splatter paint across their paper, the table, and each other. Connor looked to be a strange, unnatural mix of blue, green, orange and purple, whilst Abby was a slightly better red, brown and yellow. They were giggling as they drew their pictures of dinosaurs and lizards, each poking each other or patting a hand to each other's faces to add more colour to the already-strange combo. Lester sighed again, realising he was going to have to clean Connor and Abby up _again_. After that dirt fight, it had taken a while to scrub the soil from their faces.

As the children busily worked on their finger-paintings, Lester had to smile. It was almost cute the way they concentrated, or messed about. No, they _were_ cute, Lester conceded. It was one of the few times Lester would allow himself to think such thoughts. The kids could be a menace sometimes, but then there were the times like this, when they were having fun and weren't causing too much trouble. Yes, Lester thought with a smile, they were pretty cute.


	4. Dressing Up

Pulling out the box full of old clothes, Lester hid a smile at the excitement on the children's faces. They loved dress up, even the tougher boys like Danny and Becker. They always had fun. Lester opened the box and stepped back, letting the kids run in and grab what they wanted. They always chose the same clothes every time, so there was no worry of any tears or fights over who got what.

Lester couldn't help but smile as he watched Danny talk quickly to Becker. The two always had the same two costumes, and just swapped between them. This time it was Danny's turn for the police uniform, the slightly too big shirt and pants, the cap skewed on his head and half-covering his eyes. He grinned. Becker donned the soldier's khaki uniform, slapping the cap on his head and holding his hands out like a gun.  
"I'm a soldier!" he said, aiming at Danny. The blond boy aimed back with his own finger-gun.  
"I'm a cop, I get to save people," he said proudly.  
"So do I," Becker shot back, glaring at Danny from under his large cap.

Nick, Jenny and Helen always seemed to be together. Helen hung onto Nick, following him wherever he went. Nick preferred to spend his time with Jenny, and vice versa. The three were rummaging around in the box, Nick almost half-in as he searched for their costumes. At last he pulled them out, handing some pieces to Helen and some to Jenny, keeping the red and grey fabric to himself. He slipped on the clothes and Jenny placed the red plastic fireman's hat on his head. The pair grinned.  
"I'm a fire fighter, coming to save you!" he said valiantly, trying to keep the too-large hat from falling off.  
Jenny smiled, already dressed in her long pink dress and tiara. She spun.  
"I'm Princess Jenny. I need rescuing from the scary pirate who kidnapped me!" she said, looking at Helen. The girl was dressed in raggy trousers and torn white shirt, a red bandana around her head and an eye-patch over her left eye. She growled and leaped in front of Jenny.  
"That's right! I'm pirate captain Helen, and I kidnapped Princess Jenny!" she cackled menacingly.  
"I'll save you!" Nick cried, and the three ran off, Nick chasing Helen, tripping on their slightly too long costumes. Jenny watched with a grin as Nick jumped on Helen and knocked her to the ground.  
"Hah, got you! Now let the princess go!" he said, struggling to hold down the wriggling Helen.  
"Never!"

Meanwhile, Sarah was getting into her clothes. The white dress that reached her knees, showing off the pants beneath, the little sparkling tiara, the wire-rimmed wings slung onto her back. She trotted off on her own, dancing and spinning in her little fairy dance.  
Stephen rooted through the box and pulled out the white coat and stethoscope. He slipped them on quickly and looked around. Grinning, he wandered over to Becker and Danny, who were still arguing over which was better, a cop or a soldier.  
"Can I play?" he asked.  
"You can be our doctor when we get hurt!" Becker said with a grin. Danny nodded enthusiastically, and Stephen joined them in a game of pretend fighting, Becker against Danny.

Connor and Abby grabbed the last costumes from the bottom of the box. Laughing, Connor stuck on the golden plastic badge and dropped the cowboy hat on his head. The hat almost completely covered his face up to his nose. Abby put on the headband with the colourful feathers, then moved off to ask Lester for the face paints. He agreed. It was rare for him to be able to control if the kids got dirty. He painted some red lines down Abby's cheeks and forehead. She thanked him, then ran off to join Connor.  
"Sherriff Connor, here to protect the good guys and stop the baddies," Connor said proudly, sticking out his chest.  
"Am I a goodie or a baddie?" Abby asked, adjusting her headband.  
"You're a goodie, of course!" Connor said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "You're Chief Abby, the bestest Indian ever!"  
"And you're the bestest cowboy sheriff ever!" Abby grinned, and the pair rushed to a corner of the room to play.

Lester looked over the different games being played. Stephen was wrapping a bandage around Danny's arm, and Becker was looking quite proud of himself. Nick was still trying to catch Helen, after she managed to squeeze out of his grip. Jenny watched on in interest as the fire fighter ran after the pirate. Sarah was on her own, dancing and singing softly to herself. Connor and Abby were playing pretend, with Connor protecting Abby from the 'baddies'.

Lester let himself smile. Soon the kids would grow up and stop playing games like this. But it was fun while it lasted, he thought. He remembered playing dress ups as a kid. He'd been the doctor, always wrapping people up in bandages and ordering them about. Lester shook his head. No wonder he hadn't had many friends. But it didn't matter. This job, working with these kids, made up for it. It more than made up for it.

And as much as Lester didn't want to admit it to himself, the job was fun.


	5. Day Out At The Petting Zoo

**Not entirely proud of this one. There's something about it that seems... off to me. Anyway, hope you enjoy it! I haven't been to a petting zoo in years, so forgive if there are any glaring errors XD Reviews loved and rewarded with hugs!**

"Alright kids, be careful and don't run off," Lester said as he watched the kids mouths drop in excitement.  
It had been one of the parents' idea to take the kids to the petting zoo. It looked to be a good one, judging by the squeals of enthusiasm and the faces of happiness on the kids. They headed into the petting zoo, Lester following the kids and Becker's mother, the one who had suggested going in the first place, leading the way.

Once inside, the kids split up almost instantly and moved towards the animals. Sarah and Stephen headed straight for the small goats, all milling around and begging for food. Sarah squealed in delight as one of the goats jumped up and tried to snatch the bag of food she held in her hand. Stepping back, she grabbed a handful and held it out. At once, the entire group of goats stuck their heads in, all trying to get some of the food before it disappeared. Stephen was patting one of them, smiling as he fed it. The goat licked his hand, and he giggled.

Becker and Danny, always together and making mischief, scurried away and towards the miniature donkey, placidly eating the grass it was being fed by another child. Danny patted it, and Becker tried to feed it when the other child left. The donkey, having been fed numerous times by numerous children already, decided it wasn't hungry anymore and refused to eat the grass Becker had pulled up for it. No matter how hard he tried, Becker couldn't get the donkey to eat. Danny laughed and pointed at the look on his friend's face when the donkey trotted off, tired of the young boy. Becker glared at him and jumped on him. The pair fell to the ground, kicking and pulling hair. Lester hurried to intervene, but Becker's mother was already there. She pulled her child off and started talking sternly to him. Lester helped Danny up and dusted him off. Becker pouted as his mother told him off. Danny thought this was hilarious. Becker's mother led him away before something serious happened.

Nick, Helen and Jenny were together, as usual, playing with the ducks. Helen was chasing one, trying to catch it to pick up. The duck quacked and flapped as it ran, waddling as fast as its little legs could carry it. Nick and Jenny seemed to be oblivious to the commotion and were petting the tiny ducklings. The babies seem to run from Jenny, and she couldn't get close enough to one to pat. She looked very upset. Nick, noticing her distress, promptly closed his hands over one of the ducklings and picked it up. Shyly, he held out the hand with the baby animal to Jenny. The little girl's face lit up, and she petted its soft down gently. Nick and Jenny both grinned. Lester smiled.

The Terrible Twosome, AKA Connor and Abby, were over by the fluffy lamb that was asleep in the corner. Abby was in heaven, hugging and patting the sleepy animal with a massive grin on her face. Connor just sat and watched, occasionally stroking the soft fleece. For once, they weren't making a mess or getting into trouble. Abby seemed content to just sit there and play with the lamb, and Connor seemed content to sit and watch her.

Lester glanced over all the children. Becker was still grumpy and had been separated from Danny, who was now with Stephen and Sarah. They were all feeding the goats together happily. Helen had stopped chasing the duck, which was now hiding from her. She looked a little put out that she couldn't pat it. Nick and Jenny were giggling and talking softly about the duckling in Nick's hand, now curled up sleeping. Abby and Connor were satisfied with playing with the lamb.

Lester smiled.

**What did you think? r&r? Also, if anyone has any ideas for another one, I'd love to hear it. I'm stumped for another idea :D I love requests!**


	6. Power Cut

**Whoo, another addition to the series! This was a mixture of suggestions by PrimevalChick, who suggested a thunderstorm and powercut, and Imagine-Me-A-Song, who suggested story time. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and thought of more stories for me to write! And I love requests, so if you have anything you'd like to see here, just review and tell me!**

Lester glanced out of the window as thunder struck again. Just after lunch the dark clouds had started to move in, and only an hour later it had started to bucket down. Now they were in the middle of one of the biggest thunderstorms of the year.

Lester glanced back at the kids. They were all sat together in the middle of the room, either talking to each other, completely oblivious to the whole situation, or looking around nervously with each crack of thunder.

Lightning flashed, lighting up the room for a split second. Jenny's hand shot out and grabbed the closest thing. It turned out to be Nick's hand. The youngsters looked at each other.  
"It's not that scary," Nick said.  
"I'm not scared," Jenny shot back, letting go of Nick's hand. The boy grinned.  
Sarah, on the other side of Jenny, piped up, "I hope it doesn't go dark. My house did that once, and it was really scary."  
Jenny glanced at her friend, and Lester saw the worry on her face. He also hoped there wouldn't be a power cut. Because not only would he have to deal with scared children, but he'd also have to deal with the boys.

Lester turned to look at the boys. He sighed when he realised they'd moved since he'd last seen them. Now Becker, Danny, Stephen and only slightly surprisingly, Helen, were all by one of the windows, hands against the glass, looking out with awe.

The sound of thunder ripped through the room, and the children by the window gasped. Helen had a massive grin on her face, and the boys started muttering about the lightning that was going to come any moment. When it flashed, they laughed.  
"Away from the window," Lester warned, walking over and steering the four back towards the middle of the room. They all groaned.  
"Aww, but Mr. Lester!" Stephen complained.  
"It's to keep you safe, okay?"  
Stephen pouted, but there were no more complaints or resistance as the four sat down with the others.

Lester glanced over to Connor and Abby. They were being unusually quiet, and when they were quiet, they were usually plotting something or another. He was genuinely surprised when he saw them sat a little way off on their own, smiling and laughing with each other, playing a clapping game. He smiled.

And then the room was plunged into darkness, and erupted into chaos.

There was a soft yelp from Jenny and Sarah. The sound of a familiar, surprised squeak emitted from somewhere near them. Connor and Abby were once again quiet, which Lester was thankful for. He didn't want to have to deal with the Terrible Twosome along with the boys and Helen.

The four were yelling in delight, and the sounds of crashing and banging told Lester they were causing chaos. He growled, lowly so the kids didn't hear, and stumbled over to where he'd put the torch earlier, in case of just this sort of emergency. He bit back a curse as he smashed into a table, then nearly fell over one of the kids running around. The small squeak told him it was Becker he'd nearly squashed.

In the end, he made it to the torch and flicked it on just as there was a loud yelp and an almighty thump. He swung the torch around, the light illuminating sections of the room.  
Connor and Abby were still sat where they had been earlier, just looking at him with curiosity. Behind them was the source of the noise. Danny and Becker had collided with each other and fallen to the ground. Danny was rubbing his arm and laughing, whilst Becker was holding his head with a grin. Lester shook his head.

The light fell on Helen and Stephen next. They were by the window, staring out into the pelting rain and thunder. They turned when they realised that Lester had found the torch. Helen gave him a cheeky grin.

Lester searched the room for Jenny, Nick and Sarah. The torchlight found them huddled in the same place they'd been sat before. Sarah was holding onto Jenny's arm, and Jenny was hugging Nick. The blonde-haired boy looked just as scared as the other two, one hand gripping Jenny's tightly. When the light hit them, Jenny looked at Nick.  
"Not scared, huh?" she smirked, although her voice was a little shaky.  
Nick stared at her for a moment, then quickly let go. Jenny pulled back from the hug, and Sarah giggled nervously and released Jenny's hand.  
"I don't like it," she said quietly.  
"Okay, kids, in the middle now," Lester said firmly.  
For once, the kids listened. Becker and Danny made their way over to Sarah, Jenny and Nick. Helen raced over and quickly sat down next to Nick. Connor and Abby moved closer.

Lester sat down, closing the small circle. He looked over them. From his left, there was Abby, then Connor, followed by Stephen and Danny. Becker was by his side, and Sarah was shifting closer to the taller boy. She looked up at him quickly, then back down. Becker barely noticed. Jenny, Nick and Helen finished off the group.

Thinking quickly, Lester spoke.  
"Well, until the lights come on, how about we tell stories?" he suggested.  
All of the kids nodded enthusiastically. Lester passed the torch to Abby.  
"Whoever has the torch is allowed to speak. If you don't have it, you have to raise your hand if you want to say something, okay?" he said, giving Becker and Danny a sharp look. They smiled at him innocently.  
"Off you go then Abby."

The stories lasted for about ten minutes each, and soon the torch was almost around the entire circle. Connor helped Abby tell hers, about a cowboy who saved an Indian chief. Stephen's story told of going back in time to fight dinosaurs. Danny's was a monster tale where the giant creature nearly destroyed the city but was stopped just in time by the hero. Becker's started off as a horror story where kids went missing from a dark room, but stopped when he saw Sarah starting to get scared. He passed the torch onto the girl, who told a story of a beautiful fairy princess saved by a handsome prince. Danny put up his hand before the words 'fairy princess' were out of Sarah's mouth.  
"Yes Danny?"  
"Fairies are boring," he said.  
Sarah gave him a glare, which Danny returned with a grin.  
"We all listened to your story, Danny," Lester said "Now you can listen to Sarah's."  
Danny huffed but didn't say anything else. Sarah continued with her story, then passed it on to Jenny. She and Nick told a tale about a mermaid princess who became a human and married a human prince. Finally, just as Helen finished her story about a superhero girl who saved the world from destruction, the lights flickered back on.

"Oh thank God," Lester muttered quietly as the kids cheered. Outside, the rain was easing up a little, although it was still coming down heavily. The thunder and lightning seemed to have stopped, and Lester wondered when that had happened.

"You can go play if you want," Lester said.  
The kids turned to him.  
"Can we tell some more stories?" Stephen asked.  
Lester smiled, "Anything to keep you lot out of trouble."


	7. Show and Tell

**Wow, this one's pretty long. Four pages in Word :P This was from a suggestion by Logan The Awesome (Thanks muchly) and one that many of you seconded. Also mixed in a suggestion by Kathryn Hart too. **

**So here it is, Show and Tell! Please forgive any glaring and terrible errors - I wrote this tired, and I haven't seen nor done show and tell is years. **

**Also, I have another two planned for after this. I've got Substitute (sub teacher lol) and Soccer. Any you don't like/want? Or other ideas? Review! Love to everyone who's read, reviewed and/or suggested stuff for this, you're awesome!**

Lester hid a smile as he watched the kids start to file into the room. Sarah arrived first, waving good bye to her mother before coming in with a wide grin on her face. Lester was glad to see her; she'd been away on a holiday for the last week, and she'd been missed by everyone.  
"It's Show and Tell today!" she said with glee.  
"It is," Lester smiled, loving the look of elation on the little girl's face.

Next came Nick, Jenny and Helen. They lived close to each other, and every day one of their mothers dropped the three off together. They came into the room, Nick refusing to tell either of his friends about what he was going to talk about for Show and Tell. Jenny and Helen were trying to weasel it out of him, but it wasn't working.

A few minutes later, Becker and Danny arrived. Becker had something stuffed in his pocket, and he looked extremely happy. Lester always loved these days; he got to see the kids' smiles and hear their stories of what had happened during their week.

Behind the two boys was Stephen. Lester frowned when he saw the large cast over his left arm.  
"What happened to you?" Lester asked, curious.  
Stephen just gave him a cheeky grin, "You'll find out!"

Lester didn't have time to reply before he noticed the last two kids, Connor and Abby, enter the room. Abby had a massive grin on her face, much like Sarah and Becker. Again, Lester wondered why, but knew he wouldn't have to wait long to find out.

He settled the kids in the middle of the room, and stood in front of them.  
"It's Show and Tell today," he began, which was met with laughter and giggles.  
"Who wants to go first?"  
As usual, every hand shot up. Except, Lester noticed, Abby's. The girl's hand stayed down.

Lester chose Jenny to go first. The little girl scrambled up from her seat on the floor and stood in front of the assembled kids. Lester sat down beside the group and watched.  
"A few days ago, my dog Ruby had puppies!"  
She pulled out a photo of a golden Labrador looking up into the camera, four tiny squirming bundles beside her; two golden, one brown and one creamy.  
The kids gasped, smiling.  
"I'm not supposed to name them 'cause we have to sell them. I get to keep one though; the brown one. I called him Lucky. But I gave them all names anyway. The white one is Princess, and the yellow ones are Honey and Nicky."  
Lester couldn't resist a glance to Nick, his blonde hair a similar colour to the small puppy. None of the other kids actually seemed to notice, although Nick shifted a little when Jenny said the puppy's name, and his smile widened.  
"Any questions?" Lester asked the group.  
Danny, Sarah and Nick's hands shot up. Lester had the feeling he knew what they question was. He called on Nick.  
"Can I have one?" he asked, and Lester smiled.  
The kids giggled, and so did Jenny.  
"Maybe," she laughed.

Jenny sat down when Sarah and Danny's hand went down. Lester chose Danny to go next. The boy was up the front in seconds, a small box in his hands.  
"I was in the car yesterday and Daddy wasn't looking where he was going and he runned over something," Danny grinned, opened the box. Lester didn't have time to object before the kid had shown his friends.  
A collective "Ewww!" ran through the group as they looked at the very squashed, very dried out, very dead frog nestled in the box.

"That's gross!" Sarah squeaked at the same time Becker breathed, "That's cool!"  
Lester resisted the urge to put his head in his hands. Boys will be boys.  
"Daddy said I couldn't keep it but I sneaked it in the car. Patrick helped me dry it on the heater. It was funny, 'cause Daddy was angry 'bout the smell but he didn't know what it was," Danny grinned.  
Lester tried not to shake his head. Danny and his younger brother were almost as bad as Connor and Abby. He'd had the unfortunate experience of meeting Patrick a few times, and the younger boy seemed to be a Danny in the making.

Nobody had any questions, besides Becker's 'Can I touch it?" to which Lester had promptly said no and asked Danny to sit down. He chose Nick next. The kid stood up and walked to the front, holding something in his hands.

"I went to Claudia's house," he said, showing the class the photo of him and a girl who had a striking resemblance to Jenny. He'd known Claudia had been similar to Jenny, but looking at the photo, Lester realised the two could have been twins. Jenny looked surprised, as did most of the group.  
"We had lots of fun at her new house. It's pretty far away, and it took all morning to get there. But we played games and had fun. She told me all about her friends, and I told her all about you," Nick said with a smile.  
"I said I had lots of friends who were really cool. I told her all about how much fun we have, and I told her about Jenny too," Nick said, glancing at his friend "She said you all sounded really cool."  
"Any questions?" Lester asked.

There were none, so Nick sat down and Lester picked Sarah to go next. The girl looked excited as she pulled out a photo.  
"I went on holiday to a faraway place called Eegyp," he said proudly, showing the group the beautiful necklace she'd obviously gotten on her holiday. Lester smiled at her pronunciation.  
"Wow!" gasped the kids.  
"Where's that" Connor asked.  
"It's a long, long, long way away on the other side of the world!" Sarah exclaimed, the proceeded to tell her friends about what she'd done in Egypt. She retold her adventures, from the busy cities to the desert to the Pyramids.  
"Did you get lost?" Abby asked.  
"Almost, but Mummy stopped me," Sarah said.

There were many questions, ranging from "Were you scared?' from Jenny in reference to the Pyramids, to "Did the mummies come and get you?' from Danny. Eventually, Sarah sat down after the barrage of questions.

Lester chose Stephen to go next. The boy made his way to the front awkwardly, holding his broken arm to his chest.  
"I was swinging on the swings at the park yesterday and I fell off," he said, shifting his arm slightly.  
"It really hurt, and Mummy had to take me to the hospital. The doctor fixed my arm up."  
"Does it hurt now?" Helen blurted out, then looked at Lester. He didn't reprimand her. This time.  
"A little, but mainly it's just itchy," Stephen grinned "It's really cool, but I can't do lots of stuff too."  
"You can still play Cops and Robbers, right?" Danny called out.  
Stephen giggled, "Yeah. I'm gonna beat you this time."  
He sat down, and Lester pointed to Abby. She shook her head.  
"Can I go last please, Mr Lester?" she asked.  
Lester was confused, and a little curious, but agreed. He chose Connor instead.

After he got to the front, Connor showed the group a small rock. When he looked closer, Lester could see it wasn't just a rock, it was...  
"It's a fossil," Connor said proudly, saying the last word slowly as if he were trying to get it right.  
"I found ages ago. Daddy says it's a fish from a long time ago, like the dinosaurs," he continued, an excited glint in his eyes "It's really, really old."  
"And dead, like my frog," Danny piped up. The group dissolved into giggles, and Connor joined them as he sat down next to Abby.

"Becker?" Lester asked.  
The boy stood up and raced to the front of the group. He didn't speak for a moment, then pulled out what was stuffed into his pocket. Lester raised his eyebrow when he saw the military cap Becker was holding.  
"My daddy came home. He was far away, fighting. He's a sol-ja, and that's what I wanna be when I get big like Daddy," Becker said with absolute excitement and enthusiasm.  
"Where was he?" Lester asked out of curiosity.  
"I dunno," Becker replied "But Mummy said he was somewhere far away, keeping ev'rybody safe. And now he's home, and he let me bring his hat to show you."  
He stuck the cap on his head. It was a little too big for him, and it slid over his eyes, but Lester knew there was no way the kid was going to take it off for the rest of the day.  
Danny stuck his hand up, waving it around impatiently until Lester called his name.  
"Your daddy must be brave," he said.  
"He is. He's the best."

The boy sat down, and Lester smiled at him. There was only Helen and Abby left, so he picked Helen. The girl stood up and walked to the front. In her hand she loosely held a small round object.  
"It was really sad. My Grandpa had to go to the ho'pital 'cause he was sick. Mummy told me he went to Heaven."  
Lester blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. The shocked gasp that swept through the group told him that no one had. Jenny and Sarah looked sad, and even Danny and Becker looked a little upset.  
"He gave me this," Helen showed the group the object she was holding. It was a pocket watch.  
"He said he got that from his grandpa, and he said I could have it. He told me a cool story about it too."  
Helen launched into a tale about how her grandfather's grandfather, as a teenager, had been wandering the streets of his hometown and had come upon an old watch. The man had somehow managed to find the owner, and tried to give it back. The owner was a very old man, and he had said for the man to keep it. He had no use for it anymore.

Helen finished up, and looked around at her friends. She moved to sit down when nobody put their hand up with a question, and Nick shifted over so she could sit next to him. She smiled, and he returned it.

Lester didn't say anything for a moment, then gestured to Abby, the last. She nodded, stood up, and instead of running to the front, she raced to the window. She waved eagerly, then ran to the door. Everyone turned to watch her. Lester was about to ask what was going on when he suddenly saw.

Abby's mother, a beautiful woman from who Abby obviously got a lot of her looks from, stepped through the door. She smiled at the kids, holding something in her arms. Abby gestured for the kids to come closer. They scrambled to get to their feet and rush over. Lester followed them.  
"This is my new little brother, Jack," Abby said proudly as her mother bent down to the children's level.

Lester smiled. The little baby boy was cute, with wide eyes and tiny flailing fists. Everyone grinned and giggled when they saw him. They crowded around, each trying to see the baby.  
"Can I hold him?" Abby looked at her mother, who nodded and gently passed Jack over to her. The kid held her brother awkwardly, and her friends moved to surround her.

"Aww," Sarah said as Jack grabbed her finger.  
"Does he cry a lot? 'Cause Patrick cried a lot when he was little," Danny asked.  
"Oh yes, he certainly cries a lot," Abby's mother smiled.

Jack stayed for a few more minutes, the kids loving every minute. Eventually, Abby's mother said she should go home, because Jack probably needed to sleep. With a collective groan, the group stepped back so that Abby could hand Jack back.  
"I'll see you later, okay?" Abby's mother said, giving her daughter a kiss before turning to leave. She thanked Lester, then left.

"That's everybody then," Lester said in the silence that held after Abby's mother left.  
The kids turned to him.  
"You can go outside if you like," he suggested.

The kids were out the door before the words were out of his mouth.


	8. Substitute

**Yay! Another installment in the cuteness that is Primeval Preschool! Here's Substitute for ya! I hope you love it as much as I loved writing it - I just wish I could do this to some of the subs I hate... or just teachers in general... XD**

Lester never called in sick.

It was just one of things that he just never did. He loved the kids far too much to leave them with a substitute (although he'd never admit it). But when he woke up that morning, he knew there was no way he was going to work. He barely made it out of bed to call in, he felt so sick.

**/\/\**

Christine Johnson was used to dealing with little kids. She didn't have any of her own, but she'd been around kids this age since she was in high school. She knew how to deal with them.

The children's faces fell when they saw her. Christine didn't mind; she was there to be their teacher for the day. She knew they would dislike her, and she didn't really care. As long as she got paid.

As the kids sat down for story time, Christine looked over each of them. She remembered their names – with such a diverse group it was hard not to. Becker, Danny and Stephen. The three she had to keep her eye on. Helen, Nick and Jenny. The three that were good enough most of the time. Sarah, the one who just played by herself or Jenny and didn't cause problems. Connor and Abby, the constantly had to watch in case one decided to start a food fight, or a paint fight, or a book-throwing fight. That's what story time descended into when the kids decided they didn't want her there anymore.

"Mr Lester's better than you!" Connor yelled, throwing a book at Christine. She didn't even have to move to avoid that throw; the shot went wide. But other books rained down on her from all angles, and she covered her face with her hands to protect herself. Through the hail of books, Christine saw only Becker was not joining in. The others seemed far too happy with their attempt to try and 'stone' her to death with picture books.  
"Yeah!" chorused the other kids.  
"That's enough!"  
The yell echoed, and the kids suddenly stopped. They stared at her with shock. Christine dusted herself off; obviously these kids needed some discipline.  
"All of you, in the corners and facing the wall!" she shouted, pointing.  
The kids hesitate for a minute. When Christine opened her mouth again, they scurried away to their respective corners, each muttering under their breath about 'mean old Miss Christine'.

Christine noticed Becker heading to a corner, head bowed. She stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.  
"You're not in trouble," she said, remembering Becker came from a military background. He would have grown up knowing about discipline and respecting others "You didn't do anything wrong."

The others glared at Becker as the boy smiled.

Later that day, another attempt at a mutiny was set in motion. It all started when Christine told Helen off for pinching Danny.  
"I didn't do it!" Helen cried.  
Christine had seen her do it, so she knew the girl was lying. She sent her to face the wall.  
"You're mean!" Helen yelled.  
"Yeah, you're mean! I don't like you!" Abby piped up.  
Each of the kids started joining in, chanting their dislike of her over and over. Once again, Christine noticed, it was Becker who stayed back and silent.  
"That's quite enough. I think all of you are going to stay inside today," Christine said firmly.  
The kids gave a collective groan as they looked out at the beautiful day outside. The sun was shining, the temperature was absolutely perfect, and there was a slight breeze rippling through the trees.  
"Sit," Christine ordered.  
The kids did as they were told, still grumbling quietly. Becker looked at her questioningly.  
"You can go outside if you like, Becker," Christine nodded.  
The boy grinned and raced outside. The rest of the group glared angrily, arms folded in refusal.

By the end of the day, Christine was utterly shocked by the behaviour of the children. Throughout the course of the day they'd tried to stone her to death, a mob had almost been formed, a strike had occurred and the children had almost gotten as far as attacking her from behind.

As the last of the kids left the school, each complaining to their parents about the substitute, Christine sighed and moved to grab her bag. She wanted to get home as soon as possible.  
"Can I help?"  
Christine saw Becker standing nearby, head slightly tilted. Apparently he hadn't been picked up yet. Christine smiled.  
"Sure, if you want. Could you carry this for me?"  
She handed him her bag, and he took it carefully. Christine turned to leave, Becker following behind. When she reached her car, she turned back and took the bag from Becker.  
"Thank you. That was very nice of you."  
Becker grinned. A horn honked, and Becker turned to see a car pulling up in the car park. He waved to Christine and raced off.

Christine smiled. Now that kid was going to turn out well; she was sure of it. She reached into her bag for her keys.

She squealed as her hand touched something sticky. Dropping the bag, she looked at her hand. It was covered in slimy pale-green, well-chewed gum. All over her hand, all through her bag – it was everywhere. It must have been one hell of a mouthful for the little boy.

Christine looked up and glared in anger as the car containing Becker drove off. A little face appeared in the back window.

Becker smiled.


	9. School Play

**Finally, another installment of Primeval Preschool! Hope you all enjoy this one. Some of you said you wanted a school play one, so here it is!**

Lester looked over the kids as they waited eagerly for the performance to start. This school play, Lester knew, was going to be interesting at the very least. Jenny tugged on her dress.  
"When do I get to go on?" she asked, looking up at Lester.  
"Soon. You're only a baby now, remember?"  
Jenny nodded. Lester smiled, then headed out on the stage.  
"Hello everyone," he said to the audience of parents "The kids have been very excited about this, so let's not waste any more time. We hope you all enjoy our tale of Sleeping Beauty."  
The parents clapped, and Lester walked off stage. He gestured for the first lot of kids to go on. He was nearly trampled by Danny.

"I'm the king!" Danny said when he was on stage. He grinned as he held up the plastic doll in his hands "This is my new baby. Her name's Beauty."  
Lester nodded to Abby, Sarah and Connor. The little boy at the end was still pouting, but followed the girls onto the stage, fixing his fairy wings as he went.  
"I'm the pretty fairy!" Sarah squealed as she danced up to Danny, wand in hand "I'm gonna give the baby a present!"  
"Me too!" Abby grinned, then looked at Connor expectantly.  
"Me too," he said grudgingly.

Sarah tapped the doll on the head with her wand.  
"Now she'll always be pretty like me," she said as she flounced off, letting Abby take her place. Abby touched the baby with her wand.  
"Now she's always gonna be friends with animals," she said, ducking out of the way to let Connor walk up. He quickly touched his fairy wand to the doll's head.  
"Now she's always gonna be nice," he said.

Danny was still grinning, which put a smile on Connor's face. Lester nodded to Helen, who raced on, almost tripping on her black dress.  
"Mwahaha!" she cackled as she waved her black wand "I'm the evil witch!"  
"No!" cried Danny (rather convincingly, Lester thought).  
"Yes! I'm gonna cast an evil spell! She's gonna touch a needle when she's big and she's gonna die!"  
Helen waved her wand as she cast her evil spell. The three fairies watched, trying to hide smiles and look scared.  
"Ha ha!" Helen said as she ran off stage.  
"Save her!" Danny said, turning to the fairies.  
"I'll do it!" Connor butted in before Sarah could say anything "I'll change the spell!"  
He almost took Abby's eye out as he waved his wand and said, "Now she's just gonna fall asleep, until the prince comes to wake her up!"

The three fairies made their way off stage, followed by Danny. There was applause as they left, and when they met up with Lester, there were grins plastered on their faces.  
"You did great!" Lester smiled.  
"I wanna go on!" Jenny said, tugging on Lester's sleeve.  
"It's your turn now."

Jenny ran onto the stage, almost falling over as she stood on her dress.  
"I'm Beauty," Jenny said to the audience with a grin "I'm a beautiful princess. I live in a big castle with my Daddy."  
Behind her, Helen snuck on, and sat in the corner. Jenny turned and gasped in surprise.  
"Who are you!" she asked.  
"I'm just fixing stuff," Helen said, showing her the cloth she was holding in her hand, and the needle poking out of it "Have a go!"  
"Okay!"  
Jenny went over and grabbed the needle. As she touched it, she tumbled backwards, falling with a thump. She lay on her back, faking a faint.  
"No!"  
Jenny closed her eyes and stayed still. Helen did her best evil laugh.  
"Mwahahahaha! Now the princess is dead!" she cackled as she ran off stage.  
Danny entered the stage again and ran over to Jenny.  
"No! Now I have to find a prince to wake her up!"

He ran away again, and Lester walked out to narrate.  
"The princess slept for a hundred years. The prince didn't come, and Beauty never woke up. But then one day..."  
He walked off again, signalling Nick to walk on. He did so with a grin, cardboard sword in his hand.  
"I'm the Prince! There's a princess here I have to rescue!" he said, puffing out his chest.

From the other side of the stage, Becker and Stephen were waiting eagerly. The moment they heard Nick speak, they raced out. They were dressed in baggy green clothes, draped with black and green tissue paper and cellophane.  
"Not if we can stop you!" they sniggered.  
"Oh no, trolls!" Nick cried.  
"We're not trolls," Stephen said, looking hurt.  
Becker explained, "We're goblins!"  
"Oh no, goblins!"

Nick dashed at them with his sword. He hit Stephen in the chest and the boy fell to the ground with a thump and a squeal before dying. Beside him, Jenny stifled a giggle.  
Becker and Nick fought bravely, each trying to hit each other. Nick slashed with his sword and Becker poked Nick any chance he got. At last, Nick stabbed the tip of the sword into Becker's chest. The boy collapsed with a realistic groan.  
"Ha! Now I can save the princess!"  
"No way!"  
Helen danced onto the stage, cackling evilly. Nick brandished his sword.  
"I'll save her!"  
Helen jumped on Nick, and Lester sighed, running a hand through his hair. Helen had been attacking Nick all through the practices, and Lester had had to keep telling her off. He'd hoped she wouldn't do it in the actual show, but it looked like she hadn't listened to a word he'd said.  
Nick and Helen wrestled on the floor, until Nick pushed her off and poked his now-mangled sword into her chest. Helen jerked and died (Lester thought she did pretty well, actually). Nick dropped the battered piece of cardboard and ran to Jenny.

"I'll wake you up!" he said, leaning down. He kissed her on the cheek quickly, and Jenny giggled. She opened her eyes and stood up.  
"You saved me!" she said.  
Nick beamed. Then the pair turned to the audience and bowed to mark the end. The rest of the kids off stage rushed on, nearly trampling Lester in the process. Becker, Stephen and Helen jumped up from the floor to join their friends in a bow as the audience clapped enthusiastically. Lester followed the kids on stage.  
"And so the Prince and Princess fell in love and lived..."  
The kids beat him to it.

"HAPPILY EVERY AFTER!"


	10. Meet the Teacher

**Whoo hoo! Finally, another chapter of Primeval Preschool, thanks to Squabble (Vertig0h on dA, where she gave me some points to write this one). Hope you guys all enjoy this one!**

**BTW, there's spoilers for Becker's real name in this story XD**

Lester wasn't exactly looking forward to tonight.

It was the night when the parents came to the school to see the work the kids had done. It was also when the parents got to ask the teacher just what their kids were doing at school, and how they were behaving. As much as he loved the kids, there were a few who could possibly do with a little discipline every now and again. He wasn't naming names, but Danny and Helen instantly came to mind.

He sighed as he saw cars starting to arrive in the parking lot. Tonight was certainly going to be interesting, if nothing else. He watched as the first parents walked towards the classroom. It was Abby, with her mother, father and little brother Jack. Abby bounded through the door and raced over to Lester and hugged him.  
"Hi Mr Lester!" she squealed before running off to show her parents her classroom and all the work she'd done. Abby's mother, holding Jack, followed her daughter while her father wandered over to Lester.

Just as they were shaking hands and introducing themselves, another set of parents arrived. It was Connor this time. He waved to Lester before running off to proudly show off his achievements.  
"How's Abby going?" her father asked.  
Lester smiled, "When she's not covering herself in paint or dirt? She's great."  
"Daddy!" Abby called, and her father excused himself.

A moment later, Connor's mother walked over with a smile while Connor dragged his father around by the hand, excitedly showing him everything he'd done. He proudly pointed out his earthy-coloured painting of a dinosaur.  
"Connor hasn't been causing too much trouble, has he?" his mother, a slim woman with dark hair like her son and laughing eyes.  
Lester nodded, deciding to keep quiet about the book barrage on Christine Johnson that he'd been told about by the irate woman.

Everyone seemed to arrive at once then. Danny, Becker and Stephen all turned up at the same time and raced towards the classroom together, leaving their parents to walk as a group alone. Lester noticed there were only five parents, and realised Stephen's mother was missing. But there was also an unfamiliar face among the five, a man he couldn't put a child to. As they entered, each boy separated from each other and dragged their respective elders to various places around the room. Lester watched as Becker grinned, taking hold of the unknown man's hand and pulling him away, his mother following behind with a small smile. Lester realised with a jolt that it was Becker's father. He'd never met the man, as he'd always been overseas.

That was when he realised with a sinking heart that Danny's mother and father had brought not just one of their children along, but both. Little Patrick was running around after Danny, giggling. When he got bored of that, he chased after Stephen. Lester rolled his eyes just as Danny's father approached.  
"I hope Danny hasn't been as bad here as he has at home," he laughed, and Lester chuckled along.  
"Just the occasional mischief," Lester replied with a small grin, and Danny's father, a tall man with spiked dark blonde hair and eyes that sparkled like Danny's when he got an idea, smiled.  
"With two under six, it's a nightmare sometimes," he said, looking over at Danny and Patrick, the former now showing his mother and brother the dress up box. Patrick was pawing through the costumes with great glee and having the time of his life trying to steal Danny's copper's hat.

As Danny's father moved off to help his wife calm down the fight beginning to grow between the two brothers, Lester turned to see Stephen's father walking over, his son holding his hand and grinning.  
"Stephen tells me you were planning a trip to the museum?" the ebony-haired man smiled, glancing down at his son for a moment.  
"I was definitely thinking about it, if I can get some parents to help out."  
"Count me in then."  
Stephen pulled hard on his father's hand, desperately dragging him away to show him something. His father laughed and waved a slight good bye to the teacher who returned it with a smile.

That was when he noticed Becker's family approaching. He nodded and shook the father's hand, looking up as the man towered above him.  
"I take it you're the elusive Mr. Becker?"  
The man laughed, "That'd be me. It's a change from being Captain. Phillip."  
"Becker tells me you're a soldier," Lester said, and Phillip ruffled his son's hair, who simply grinned like a mad man, utterly elated.  
Phillip chuckled and shook his head, "You still insist on being called Becker, hey Hils?"  
Becker pouted and looked away, and Lester just smirked, but tried to hide it. He already knew Becker's first name was Hilary, but the look on Becker's face was... for want of a better word, hilarious. The kid had to have the most manipulative pout ever. Just looking at it for a few moments meant Lester had to look away quickly, afraid the kid would start crying or something.  
"Just got back from Afghanistan for a few weeks, and just in time for this," Phillip said.  
Becker looked up to his father with a longing smile, seeming to have forgotten all about the previous few minutes, "I'm gonna be just like Daddy when I get bigger."  
Phillip laughed and slid his hand under his son's armpits, picking him up and swinging him onto his shoulders. Becker giggled and hugged his father's head, resting his own on the spiked out hair.

Lester spoke with Becker's mother for a moment, thanking her once again for helping out with the kids when they went to the petting zoo. As Phillip turned away as Becker announced he wanted to show him something, Nick and Jenny wandered in the door, followed by Helen a few paces behind. A small group of parents were close on their heels. Lester picked out Nick's mother, Jenny's parents and Helen's father. He reminded himself that Nick and Helen both had single parents.

Jenny led her family off to investigate her work, as the remaining two children dragged their parents excitedly towards Lester, grinning.  
"I've been good, haven't I Mr. Lester?" Helen said with a sweet smile.  
Her father rolled her eyes, and Lester had to agree with him. But he nodded and smiled, "Of course you have. When you're not causing havoc."  
Helen looked slightly confused as she asked what havoc meant. Lester and her father just laughed, and Nick giggled, though Lester doubted he knew what havoc meant either. Helen poked her tongue out at Nick, before flouncing off in a huff, pulling her father behind her.

"Nick's been so happy here," the boy's mother said with a smile as she pushed pale blonde hair over her shoulder "When his friend Claudia moved away, he was so upset. He didn't even want to start preschool this year. But now, it's like he's a different kid altogether. He's back to the old Nick again."  
Lester nodded, remembering how quiet and withdrawn the blonde boy had been when he'd arrived on his first day. He'd rejected all offers of friendship and sat on his own, colouring in pictures. Until Jenny happened to come along and ask if he wanted to play outside. From then on, he'd changed entirely.

As the parents wandered around with their children (some unruly and rather demanding in Helen and Danny's case – Lester had been right) Lester looked out for the one child still missing – Sarah. She was a little easy to miss, being quiet and happy to be on her own a lot of the time. But eventually he spotted her skipping down the footpath to the classroom, but there was no one behind her. Lester waited, and finally a small figure appeared from the darkness and followed Sarah into the room. Lester had to do a double take at the young woman. She looked barely out of high school, and with a five year old daughter?  
"You must be Mr. Lester, the teacher, right?" the dark-haired woman said, offering her hand.  
"Yes," he said, quietly stunned at how young she was as he shook her hand, "You're Sarah's... mother?"  
The woman laughed, snorting slightly. Sarah laughed softly along with her.  
"Oh God no. I'm only sixteen! Though I'm flattered. I think," she said when she was calm enough to speak "I'm her sister, Leila."  
Lester smiled awkwardly and cleared his throat, embarrassed.  
"Yeah, our Dad's away at the moment and Mum's sick. So I brought Sarah."  
They talked for a moment until Sarah got bored and started whining about showing her sister all her work. Leila smiled and, with a wave to Lester, walked away with the demanding child.

Lester stood back and watched as the excited children proudly showed off their best and favourite pieces. He smiled a little as he swept his gaze over the scene, with parents and children chattering and smiling together. The night wasn't so bad after all, he figured.


	11. Museum

**Sorry for the long wait, but it's finally here! I hinted at it in the last story and now the kids get to go to the museum XD Enjoy!**

Looking over the kids as they chattered excitedly in the foyer of the museum, Lester knew he was in for a tough time controlling them today. Each and every one of the kids seemed to be deaf today, and Lester didn't like the way the teenage kid behind the desk was trying to hide a laugh. It wasn't as if he had to look after a class of excitable and bouncy preschoolers every working day, did he? He just had to sit there and take money. Lester glared at him, although he wouldn't change his job for the world. There was something about the kids that made everything worth it. Lester wasn't sure if it was the smiles at the end of the day as they said good-bye, or watching the fun they had during class time, or maybe the amount of fun his job actually had in it for him.

Lester glanced at the two parents who had volunteered to help. And he was going to need it. Stephen's father gave a sympathetic smile as he went to try and stop Becker and Danny from sneaking behind the desk and pulling the chair out from under the teenager. Nick's mother was also there, calming down whining children.

"But I wanna see the dinosaurs first!" Nick was complaining. Connor was right there with him, putting in his own objections. They were glaring at Sarah and Abby, who were both had different opinions about where to go.

"No! Egypt stuff!" Sarah said defiantly, hands on her hips as she switched her angry glare from the boys to Abby and back again. Abby huffed.

"I wanna see the animals. Like the lizards and stuff."

Their fun spoiled by Stephen's dad, Danny and Becker wandered over and joined in.

"Nah, let's see the bugs!" Danny grinned, and the girls groaned.

Becker added his own opinion, "Knights!"

Nick's mother did her best, but was overwhelmed by a tonne of whinging kids. Lester came over to help.

"Now kids," he said firmly, and they quietened down "We'll see all of them, okay? Promise."

The children muttered and grumbled, but agreed one by one. Connor was a little hard to budge, but in the end he mumbled an "Okay."

With that sorted, Lester called Stephen's father over, who was breaking up a fight between his son and Helen, which Jenny too was trying to help fix. He led them over and finally all the kids were in one place.

"Alright," Lester said "Let's go."

To the delight of Nick and Connor, the first thing they came upon was dinosaurs. They were off in a flash, grinning. Nick just raced around to each skeleton and model, pointing and talking to his mother about each one. Stephen looked a little excited and was about to run off with Nick before glancing at Danny and Becker and deciding not to. Helen was interested, but just wandered slowly around, calmer than the two boys. Connor was transfixed by one particular skeleton, and he pulled Lester over to read the plaque.

"Giganotosaurus," Lester read "One of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever to have lived, bigger than Tyrannosaurus."

Connor tried his best to pronounce the name, but didn't succeed. He gave up after a few tries and settled on calling it 'the big dinosaur'. Lester smiled as Connor stared up at the skull, its mouth open and displaying its impressive array of teeth. He noticed the girls were looking quite bored, and Becker and Danny were eying one of the visitors with a mischievous glint.

"Come on kids, let's keep going," Lester said.

They continued on, and the next area that got any reaction from the kids was the animal models. Abby and Jenny squealed, and Danny bounced on his heels eagerly. He was off like a bullet, jogging past the boards of pinned butterflies, beetles and other bugs. Stephen's dad trailed after Danny as Becker and Stephen went with their friend. Nick's mother kept an eye on the kids who weren't so thrilled with this section – Connor, Helen and Sarah – while Lester stayed on the girls' tail. Jenny had her hands and face pressed against the glass around a stuffed mountain lion.

"What's that?" she asked Lester.

He got down to her level and smiled at her eager face, "It's called a cougar, or a mountain lion. And the one behind it is a jaguar."

As he was explaining about the big cats, Lester caught sight of Abby from the corner of his eye. She was climbing up onto a stand to try and pull down a replica of an iguana. He stumbled to his feet and raced over.

"Abby!" he growled, and the girl dropped to the ground, confused.

Once more he got down to the child's level and looked her in the eye, "You can't do that. It's dangerous, and you might break something."

Abby sniffed, but nodded. In the background he could hear Stephen's father telling Danny off for trying to open the cabinets that held the dead beetles. Lester decided it was time to move on.

They passed through some other sections until they reached the human history part of the museum. Sarah saw the sign for the Egyptian hall and she raced off without a second thought. The rest of the group quickly followed her.

Sarah was happily poring over everything Egyptian. Danny and the boys, Nick included, were enthralled by the sarcophagus which Nick's mother said contained a mummy. Danny proceeded to sneak up on Jenny and scare her, which elicited an angry response from Nick. They ended up in a scuffle on the floor, which Stephen's father managed to separate. Meanwhile, Connor was looking at some of the tablets and hieroglyphics being displayed.

"What does that mean?" he asked Lester as he approached. Lester looked at the description for the tablet. The tablet itself had one major feature – the jackal-headed god of the dead, Anubis. The description told of a curse to anyone who violated the Pharaoh's sarcophagus. When he told Connor, he glanced nervously over at the boys, still mucking around by the mummy, then back at Lester.

The teacher smiled, "Don't worry, it's not true."

But Sarah came up at that moment and grinned, "My mummy said that if you touch something from the pyramid then you get cursed, like Mr. Lester said."

Connor jumped away from the tablet and looked around the Egyptian hall fearfully. His eyes started to fill with tears and Lester sighed, rolling his eyes at Sarah. The girl just smiled and skipped off again.

They moved on before Connor burst into tears or Nick and Danny started another fight. By the way they were glaring at each other, it was more likely than not. They moved along the stretches of history until they reached the part where Becker started grinning and looked ready to race off.

The medieval area was large and spacious, filled with knight's armour, ladies' dresses and bits and pieces of medieval history. Swords, coins, pots, paintings. But Becker was most interested in the armour. He walked around the glass case in awe, one small hand pressed against the surface.

"Wouldn't it be cool?" he said to Danny.

Danny shrugged, wandering off to look at the rusted, twisted metal that was all that remained of the swords. Even the girl's looked slightly interested in this place, and Jenny and Sarah were admiring the long, beautiful replicas of the noblewomen's dresses.

"They're so pretty," Jenny said, and Sarah agreed.

"They're like princess clothes," Sarah said, twirling around as if she were wearing one of the trailing pieces. Lester smiled, before noticing Helen weaving in and out around other visitors, purposely bumping into them and grinning when they glared at her. Lester pulled her away and told her off, but he knew she wouldn't listen. She never did.

As they left the museum, it was getting late in the day. The kids were tired, even Danny and Helen, and Connor was yawning every few seconds, his eyes half-closed and sleepy. Lester smiled as he read the final plaque fixed to the wall beside the exit door.

"_You've seen the past. Now think about the future."_

He looked over the quiet preschoolers and sighed, stifling a yawn himself. If these kids were the future, it was going to be a very hectic and chaotic future indeed. But definitely a good one.

**Please R&R! **

**BTW, some of you have mentioned a high school story to follow on from this, or at least when they're somewhat older. Do you want one? I'm thinking about it, and it sounds like fun... Tell me what you think!**

**Edit: Okay, so a high school story wil be in the works! There's a poll up on my page so you guys can choose how the story looks and works. **


	12. Hide and Seek

**I feel absolutely horrible for neglecting this fic. I've been so busy trying to get my SPN story finished I haven't written anything for my Primeval school series! And that last chapter of PH was kinda sucky, IMO. I feel awful. So, to make up for it I'm gonna focus on PH and PP for a while. Enjoy this little story, and please forgive me! I haven't forgotten about you! Reviews are love :D**

Lester smiled as he ushered the kids outside. He had the strangest feeling that today would be rather fun, especially as he saw the excitement on the children's faces. They didn't know what Lester was planning, but they were sure it was something fun. And they were right – as least, Lester hoped so. He could see a number of ways this could end up in tears, but he tried to think positively. After all, it was just a game of hide and seek, right?

"Alright," Lester said, gathering the eager boys and girls around him "We're going to play hide and seek."

Most of the kids squealed in joy whilst the others looked at each other in nervousness. Connor, Sarah, and Nick looked less than thrilled with this announcement. The rest were ecstatic, bouncing up and down. Stephen was the most excited – everyone knew he was the best at hiding. To make the other, less enthusiastic kids more interested in playing, Lester added a little extra to the game.

"Whoever is the last person still hiding gets to pick the book for story time today."

The three reluctant players perked up instantly. Being able to choose a book was a coveted prize, something every kid wanted to be able to do. Being chosen to have that honour was the greatest thing any kid in preschool could ever get. Stephen almost exploded with excitement he was sure he was going to win. But now all the other kids were eager to play. Everyone wanted to win.

"Alright, get hiding!"

Lester turned away and closed his eyes, covering them with his hands for good measure. He started counting, smiling as he heard the shuffling and squeaks of the kids trying to find places to hide. The door to the classroom opened – Lester felt the sweeping gush of air hit his face.

When he reached ten, Lester opened his eyes and turned around. The children were nowhere to be seen. They were learning – they weren't leave hands or feet sticking out anymore. He decided to look around the playground first, starting to walk around. The sound of rustling by the bushes that edged the fence drew Lester's attention and he walked quietly over.

Pulling away some of the branches, he saw Abby crouched down low, her blonde hair sticking up in places and run through with twigs and leaves. Connor was sitting beside her, tugging his t-shirt from where it was stuck on a branch – the rustling noise. When Abby saw her teacher she squealed in surprise, falling back on her butt and staring at him, her mouth a perfect 'O'. Connor jumped at the sudden noise, whipping his head around to face Lester. The teacher held out a hand and helped Abby and Connor out of the bushes. When she was free Abby huffed.

"I wanted to win," she grumbled.

"But now you can help me find the rest of them," Lester offered, the deal taken up by Connor with a huge grin. Abby sighed, but smiled.

"Okay."

Abby ran off to check the far side of the playground, Connor following her as he always did. Lester shook his head – those two were incredibly close, and he couldn't imagine either of them being separated.

He moved towards the large tree, checking around it. Last time they'd played, Nick had hidden behind the tree and had been found first; the reason he was so reluctant to play. But he wasn't there this time. But giggling from above him signalled to Lester to look up. When he did, he gasped in shock.

Danny and Becker were in the lower branches of the tree, looking down at their teacher with Cheshire Cat grins. When they realised they'd been caught, the boys glared at each other.

"Your fault," Danny pouted, pointing at his friend.

Becker poked his tongue out, "Was not. You laughed."

"Did not."

"Boys!" Lester called, quietening them "How did you get up there?"

"Climbed," Becker shrugged, sneaking a cheeky grin before having the decency to look a little guilty. Danny on the other hand was just annoyed that he'd lost.

"Get down," Lester told them, reaching up to help them climb down. The lowest branches were just out of reach for the teacher, leaving Lester wondering just _how_ they kids had gotten up there. Although, he thought, where there's a will there's a way. And Danny and Becker had certainly wanted to win.

Danny nearly jumped in Lester's arm, sending the man stumbling backwards a good few steps. He put the boy down gently, recovering from the shock. It took him a moment to realise that Becker was trying to get down without him. The kid was sliding off the branch, holding on with both hands and trying to swing to the ground. Lester leaped forward and caught him just as Becker let go. The boy's weight was enough to knock him to the ground this time. Becker grinned at him and clambered off Lester to go to his friend. Lester shook his head – those kids were going to be the death of him.

He told Danny and Becker to see if they could find the rest of the kids. They raced off eagerly, probably wanting to find Stephen and make sure that at least he didn't win. Lester heard someone yelling from inside the classroom and he ran towards it.

Ducking inside, Lester relaxed when he saw it was Connor and Abby yelling with glee at having found Nick and Jenny. They were hiding under one of the tables, the white plastic covering over the table shielding them from view. They were whining about being found, Nick looking especially unhappy. Lester walked over to stop any outbursts of tears.

"Hey Nick."

The blonde looked at him, eyes shining with tears. Lester beckoned him closer and ruffled his hair.

"You know we've found nearly everyone already? Just Helen, Stephen and Sarah to go now."

That seemed to cheer him up, knowing he hadn't been among the first to be discovered. He seemed quite proud of the fact that Becker and Danny had been discovered before him.

"Really?"

"Yep. You want to help me find the rest of them?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna find Stephen," he said, determined. Lester held back a chuckle as Nick took Jenny's hand and ran off to fulfil his quest. A shout from outside caught his attention and he found himself running back out to see whether someone had been found or if Danny and Becker were fighting again.

It was the former. The boys were jumping around in delight as they laughed at Helen, who stood with arms folded and a dark frown on her face. She was covered with spider webs and dirt. Lester picked bits out of her hair, asking 'Where were you hiding?"

"Under the slide," Helen admitted.

Lester started. The slide was due to be fixed as it was wobbly and dangerous. He didn't let the kids go near it. It'd been so long that spider webs and all sorts of nasty creatures had taken up residence under it. What had been going through her mind when she'd chosen to hide there baffled Lester. Perhaps she'd thought no one would go near it because it was so dirty and scary. Even Danny had run away screaming when a spider the size of his hand had jumped at him.

"I FOUND HIM!"

It was Nick's voice that came screeching over to Lester, the boys and Helen. The four ran inside, Lester knowing just who Nick had found. And now it was official – he could not be prouder of that kid.

Stephen was glaring daggers at Nick as he danced a little victory dance at having found the hide and seek champion. Everyone else was in shock, either staring at Nick with eyes wide or in Jenny's case, hugging him and grinning. It seemed Lester wasn't the only one proud of Nick.

"Where were you?" Becker asked his friend, confused that Stephen had actually been found at all. He tended to stay hidden until Lester, frustrated, called out that the game was over.

Stephen gave his best pouty-angry-so-not-impressed look.

"I was hiding in the dress up box!" he said very indignantly, glaring at Nick as if the blonde had committed the most awful crime in history.

Lester had to hide him smile, knowing it would only upset Stephen more. He was as surprised as everyone else. He thought quickly, saying the name of the only person still left unfound.

"Sarah. We gotta find Sarah now."

Everyone nodded, except Stephen. He'd had enough of this now and decided to throw a tantrum.

"I wanted to win!" he yelled, storming off to his 'angry place' – behind the bookshelves. It was where he went whenever he felt angry at one of the other kids, where he could cool off and relax. Stephen disappeared behind them, but reappeared a moment later with a look of horror on his tear-streaked face.

Lester came over, trying to calm the boy down. He poked his head around to see what had upset Stephen even more. He gasped, trying not to smile as he saw what – or rather who – was behind there.

"I WIN!" Sarah squealed, jumping up and running past Lester. She ran around like she was on sugar, utterly hyper and grinning. Everyone stared at her, surprised. Stephen just burst into tears, Lester quietly soothing him.

"I get to pick the book!" Sarah yelled in joy, twirling in circles on the spot.

"Not yet," Lester said as Stephen took one look at her and promptly threw another fit "When Stephen's feeling happier, okay?"

Sarah nodded, too engrossed in her own victory to care much about when she would get her prize. Just as long as she got it.

Lester really had to fight hard not to grin, despite dealing with a crying, angry little boy. The game certainly hadn't gone the way he'd expected. Sure, he'd expected tears and he'd gotten them. But the rest of the kids were congratulating Sarah on her win and Stephen was calming down.

All in all, a rather successful game.


	13. Food Fight

**Just something that reveals another side of Helen. And brings out the awesomeness in Abby, the adorable love between Sarah and Becker and Nick's amazing nature. Yeah, so just your average PP fic :D**

Everything was peaceful. For once. Lester sat back and watched the kids eating their snack. They were outside because it was a beautiful, sunny day, warm and just right for eating outside. The kids were all sitting in a circle as they ate. No one spoke, just put more food in their mouth when it was empty. Lester smiled. Maybe he could get through the day without having something happen. Maybe, just maybe, he could have a normal day with the children.

Like there was a chance of that.

He knew it was Danny who'd started it. It was always Danny – that kid had a problem with sitting still and doing anything quietly. He picked up a piece of fruit and looked around shiftily. A moment later he drew back his arm and pelted it at Sarah.

The banana hit her square in the face, a perfect shot. The girl squeaked in surprise and stared at Danny, mushy banana dripping down her face. Her bottom lip wobbled, a telltale sign of trouble to come. Lester stood up to reprimand Danny, but by the time he got to his feet it was already too late.

Someone else had thrown a piece of orange at Danny, the soft fruit smacking the little kid's face and leaving a wet trail of orange juice down his cheek. Danny whipped around, glaring in the general direction the fruity missile had come from. Stephen and Becker were his prime suspects, and Stephen instantly pointed at his friend. Becker just frowned at Danny, an angry pout settled on his face.

Another shot was launched, this one hitting Helen in the forehead. Connor grinned and ducked behind Abby as Helen tossed a fit and hurled an apple slice at the boy.

"Hey!" Abby yelled at Helen, standing up and lobbing a piece of banana at the girl. They started fighting, throwing food and shoves until Helen picked up the half-an-apple on the plate and pitched it at Connor. It hit the boy on the nose, Connor squeaking in pain as blood began to gush. Helen smirked and put her hand son her hips in triumph. With a savage growl Lester had never heard before, Abby jumped at Helen, the girls fighting violently. Connor started to sob while trying to stop his nose from bleeding.

Meanwhile, Danny and Becker were tossing fruit at each other, the soldier's son defending Sarah. The girl stood out of the way, watching Becker hit Danny squarely with every single shot. Danny was coated in a layer of banana, orange, pear and a number of other foodstuffs. It was more of a game, Danny giggling every time he managed to hit Becker. Stephen joined in, on neither side but his own. He attacked Becker, then Danny, then swapped again, changing every few minutes.

Nick and Jenny were staying well out of the way, watching with wide eyes. When the blood started flowing, Jenny's hand flew to her mouth. Nick ran over to help Connor, trying to stop him crying. Jenny came over as well, doing her best to help.

Lester pushed his way through the battling kids to Connor, dropping to his knees beside the hysterical boy. He held Connor's head back and nodded to Nick. The blonde nodded in return, looking worried. Lester turned his head to face the rest of the children.

"That's enough!" he yelled.

The boys stopped their fight instantly, staring as they finally saw the blood. Sarah closed her eyes and ran inside, face pale. Abby and Helen didn't stop in their fight, rolling around in the dirt.

"Nick, take Connor inside and make sure he keeps his head up," Lester said, standing up and walking over to the girls. Nick helped Connor up and towards the classroom, the rest of the kids following, instinctively knowing where they had to go.

"Alright, break it up!"

Lester pulled the two girls apart. Dirt smeared their faces, their hair was tangled and knotted. They glared at each other angrily, Abby trying to take another swing at Helen before Lester stood between them.

"Inside!"

He was shocked at their behaviour. He'd never seen Helen act so maliciously, and Abby had never hit anyone before. He led the girls inside, where Becker was getting a mass of tissues for Connor and Danny was apologising to the crying boy for starting the fight.

Lester sat Abby and Helen down apart from each other and forced them to look at each other.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

"She hurt Connor!" Abby pointed at Helen as she complained, shooting a look at Connor on the far side of the room.

"She started it!" Helen shot back "I didn't do nothing!"

"Calm down," Lester said in his stern don't-mess-around voice the kids all knew to listen to "Now it doesn't matter who started it. You're both going to say sorry to each other, and then Helen, you're going to say sorry to Connor for hurting him."

Abby and Helen were silent, glaring at each other. But Helen's eyes softened, looking at the blood still coming from Connor's nose, albeit a lot slower now. Lester saw the tiniest bit of guilt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking up at Abby hopefully. The blonde glared still, but a moment later she huffed and relented.

"I'm sorry."

"Good," Lester said, gesturing to Connor "Now to Connor as well."

Helen stood up and walked over to Connor. He was starting to calm down. Lester silently praised Becker and Nick for the handling of the situation. He shouldn't have left it to them to help Connor but he was glad for the way they had jumped in without question.

"M' sorry Connor," Helen said quietly.

Connor tilted his head down to look at her. There were still tears and the blood was still trickling slowly from his nose, but he nodded slightly.

Abby ran over and hugged Connor, putting herself between him and Helen. The other kids stood back, Sarah hiding behind the others to avoid the sight of the blood.

Lester sighed. All the kids needed to learn some manners, but at least they were going in the right direction now. He had the suspicion that Helen would think twice about doing something as cruel as that again. Danny had apologised for starting the fight, both to Connor and his teacher. And Lester was proud of Becker, Nick and Jenny, and how they'd helped without having to be asked.

The kids would certainly have a story to tell when they got home tonight.


	14. Masks

**I feel bad for taking so long to update this fic. But I'm starting to run out of ideas. Any requests or ideas will be appreciated! Hope you enjoy this chapter of cuteness and chaos :P**

Lester pulled out the craft box, careful not to stand on any little children who were too busy trying to grab the box to watch out for their teacher. He smiled as he set the box on the table, his entire class settling around the table eagerly awaiting their project.

Lester pulled out the plastic masks and held them out. Instantly the boys cheered, Becker and Danny already arguing over which monster they were going to make. Sarah grinned with excitement and Connor and Abby were more than enthusiastic.

He handed out a mask to each kid, making sure Helen didn't poke herself in the eye with hers. How she managed to get close to doing it, he didn't know. But eventually everything was set out and he let the kids get on with their work.

Sitting back to watch, Lester smiled. Little kids were such hard workers, always doing their best with whatever they were doing. When they got older they'd probably get lazier and their work would suffer. But for the moment they were extremely busy with their mask decorating.

Sarah's was already coated in thick pink paint, half of it on the girl rather than the mask. She was tipping glitter over it, spilling most of it on the table. She grinned as she worked, shooting a glance at Becker. The kid was busy sticking pieces of black and green crepe paper and paint over his mask, creating some kind of creature. Beside him, Danny was working quite hard on his masterpiece, a shapeless black lump. Lester wasn't sure there was even a mask under the mass of paper, paint and other bits and pieces.

Next to Danny, Stephen worked silently on his own mask. It was coming together quite nicely – a dog of some sort. He'd taped a paper cup to the face to make the nose and was currently trying to pain the surface grey.

"Mr. Lester!" someone called and he got up to help, walking over to the girl who'd called out. He knelt down beside Helen, smiling as she showed him her work.

"What you think?" she asked.

He looked at the mask, trying to deduce what it actually was. It had green string stuck to the top for hair, a black wobbly-cut triangle pasted above it. The mask itself was sloppily painted green.

"Is'a witch!" Helen said gleefully, moving to put her half-finished mask on.

"Not yet," Lester stopped her, putting the mask back down on the table "Finish it first, then we have to let it all dry."

Helen nodded obediently and went back to work. Lester smiled. When Helen wasn't causing havoc and chaos, she was quite a nice girl. It was just that it was rare for her not to be causing havoc and chaos.

Lester looked over at the rest of the kids, all focused on their masks. Nick and Jenny were giggling as they worked together, Jenny helping with Nick's and vice versa. Theirs were turning out rather well – the blonde's was also some sort of dog, similar to Stephen's, and Jenny's was… well, Lester wasn't _entirely_ sure, but he thought he was some sort of animal. It had ears.

Across from them, Connor and Abby were making a mess and having far too much fun in doing so. Connor's mask was a sickly green, like Helen's only with splashes of silver and blue. Abby was slathering black paint on top of her white plastic mask, making patches and splodges all over it. Both children were thoroughly coated in paint and some glitter from Sarah beside them had managed to get through their hair. Abby thought it was hilarious that Connor was now patchy green and glittery.

"You're sparkly!" she squealed as she poked him. Connor grinned in return, not caring as he shook the glitter out of his hair. It cascaded to the table, some landing on his mask. The boy pouted for a moment before shrugging and sprinkling more glitter and dripping some more paint on.

Lester let them work for the next half an hour, painting and sticking bits and pieces onto their masks. Then he helped them put the masterpieces somewhere that they could dry without inquisitive, eager hands ruining the paint.

At last they were ready to be worn, and Lester got them down from where he'd stashed them. He handed them out to each child, remembering instantly which belonged to which kid. It was easy to remember – each was as unique as the child that had made it. He couldn't tell what half of them were, but he still knew who owned which one.

"So, why don't we all tell each other what our mask is and why you made it like that?" Lester said after he had them all seated in a circle. Most of them were still sliding the masks onto their faces, but Sarah's hand shot up and Lester let her go first.

"Mine's a fairy," she grinned – at least, Lester assumed she did "I like fairies. They're pretty."

Lester nodded, then asked who wanted to go next. Danny put his hand up eagerly and the teacher bit back a sigh. He nodded.

"I'm a zombie," Danny giggled.

"What's a zombie?" Sarah asked innocently.

Danny made a rather realistic zombie moan and staggered to his feet and towards Sarah. The girl squealed in shock.

"Sit down Danny, and stop scaring Sarah," Lester said at the same moment Becker grabbed his friend's foot. Danny went down face first and hit the carpet with a squeak. He lay there for a moment before getting up and launching himself at Becker.

"Boys!" Lester called, moving over to separate the pair.

When he finally had them settled back in their respective places, Lester asked Danny to if he would answer Sarah's previous question.

"Zombies are dead people that aren't really dead," Danny said in a huff, and refused to say anymore.

Sighing, Lester gestured to Helen.

"IS'A WITCH!" Helen cackled loudly, making Sarah jump "IMMA GET THE FAIRY!"

Lester saw Sarah's bottom lip start to wobble and her eyes filled with tears. Rolling his eyes, he told Helen to stop. For once she did as she was told, giggling as she settled down.

"Stephen?" the teacher asked, eager to distract Sarah.

"Wolf," Stephen said simply "Wolfs are scary and fast."

As Sarah hiccuped and tried not to cry, Lester could had slapped himself in the face. Was there anyone who hadn't done something scary? Had they done this _just _to torment him and Sarah? He glanced at Nick and Jenny and quickly gestured for them to speak.

"I'm a kitty," Jenny said softly, Sarah brightening a little. Lester could see the resemblance now that he knew what it was he was supposed to be looking at. The mask was grey with zigzag black stripes, paper ears at the top with little white whiskers and small pink nose. Nick nodded.

"I'm a puppy."

Lester nodded, understanding. Nick's mask was a light brown, with a paper cup like Stephen's for the nose and long floppy paper ears. Sarah thought it was adorable and giggled quietly.

Lester smiled as Jenny and Nick held hands, looking at each other and laughing. They were as adorable as their masks, so cute and funny. Lester wondered if they knew how love-struck they often looked together.

He glanced at Abby and Connor, wondering what on _Earth_ their masks were. He hesitantly asked Abby to explain hers.

"It's a panda," she said, ending with a giggle. Her mask was patchy with black and white, and Lester couldn't help but smile at the touch of glitter that had made it's way onto one side.

"I'm a alien," Connor said proudly and Lester almost laughed out loud. His mask had gone from crazy to insane. Green, blue and silver littered the plastic surface, along with copious amounts of glitter, sparkly paper and fluff. It was certainly out of this world.

"Alien's aren't real," Danny scoffed, joining the conversation again. Lester wished he hadn't.

"Are!" Connor shot back, pulling off his mask to glare at Danny. The other did the same, shooting Connor a grumpy look.

"Are not."

"Are."

"Are not."

"Are."

"Alright!" Lester interrupted before it got out of hand. Connor was already prepared to jump at Danny for insulting his alien theory, and Danny was still just grumpy in general. He tried to calm the situation down, "Why don't you all go outside and play with your masks?"

"But Mr. Lester!" Becker piped up "What 'bout me?"

"Of course, Becker," Lester said, surprised that he'd forgotten the boy "You go."

"I'm a swamp monster, one who eats mean kids," Becker said, glaring at Danny.

And that was the moment when the fight broke out once again. Danny attacked Becker and the pair rolled on the ground as they fought. Connor jumped up to join in and defend Becker, Abby holding him back. Stephen was ready to leap into the fray when Lester came over and forcefully separated the two warring boys.

"That's enough," he said.

"Becker said I was mean!"

"Did not."

"Becker, apologise for hurting Danny's feelings," Lester ordered.

Becker did so grudgingly, then Lester told Danny to apologise for starting the fight. He protested, but in the end gave a reluctant apology.

"Good," Lester sighed "Now go out and play."

The class was gone by the time 'play' was out of his mouth. He smiled a little, rolling his eyes as he followed them. Just another day of drama at preschool.


	15. Snow

**Hope you enjoy :D I could barely write this one because it was too adorable! I mean... well, you'll find out :D Becks, Sarah, Abby and Connor... just... *dies***

Lester knew today was going to be chaotic, a mess of amazing fun and absolute terror on the kids' parts. Despite every day turning out to be exactly that, Lester was positive that _today_ was going to be twice as fun and twice as horrendous.

He half-heartedly glared out the window as he tidied up the room and waited for the children to arrive for the day. The little white flakes of snow that were gently falling outside didn't really seem to care that he was glaring at them, and continued to go merrily on their way. Lester didn't really have the heart to be annoyed though. He knew he'd have a handful with the kids being excited over the snow, but it would be fun nonetheless. He wondered how many would turn up – the snow wasn't heavy in the least, but a couple of parents might keep their children home just in case.

The excited squeals from down the path alerted Lester to the first arrivals. He opened the door to hurry them in from the cold. Sarah and her sister were the first to arrive, the elder girl holding the toddler's hand as they walked towards the classroom. She smiled at Lester as she reached him, Sarah giggling at the snow falling on her coat.

"I gotta go. I'm gonna be late for school," Leila said with a smile as Sarah ran into the room, calling after her "Be careful Sarah!"

"I'll look after her," Lester said as Leila dashed back up the path, turning to wave goodbye as she went. She ran past the next arrival, a rugged-up Becker. He was walking on his own, his mother watching him from the far end of the path. Lester could just imagine the toddler-tantrum Becker might have had to get his own way and walk to school on his own. His mother certainly looked exhausted, despite it still being early in the morning.

"Hello there Becker," he said as the boy reached him and wandered into the room.

"It's snowin'!" he said excitedly in reply, ending his sentence with a small sneeze.

"That it is," Lester could only smile as Becker ran towards Sarah and the pair started talking happily about the snow. He turned his head just in time to see the group of children making their way down the path.

He knew Nick's mother often brought Helen with her, as apparently they lived nearby each other. The pair were walking down the path with the woman, and behind her was Jenny's mother with the little girl bouncing happily along.

"If the snow gets too heavy," Nick's mother said when she reached Lester "I'll come and get the two."

He nodded as the kids pushed past him to run into the warm room, making him stumble. The women chuckled as they made their way back to their cars.

Lester almost sighed as he saw a familiar pair of cars drive into the parking lot. Sure enough, the second the cars were stationary, two very familiar boys jumped out and ran to meet each other. One slipped and landed heavily on his rear end – the other boy's reaction to that was to laugh hysterically.

By the time they made their way to the classroom, Stephen and Danny were already arguing.

"But it was funny!" Danny giggled.

Stephen pouted unhappily, "Wasn't."

"Come on you two," Lester said, shooing them inside to the warm, "Get inside before you freeze to death."

Danny shot him a retort, but Lester barely heard it as he was already trying to stifle a laugh at the last two arrivals. Abby and Connor also came together, Connor's father driving them to school and home again. Lester watched as the two children and the older man trudged down the path. Abby was bouncy and excited, almost skipping through the thin layer of snow. Connor was walking a lot slower, obviously worried about falling over. It seemed his parents were worried about him too, as he was bundled up with so many layers Lester wondered where the little boy was. He was like a ball, slowly making his way to the classroom whilst holding his father's hand tightly.

He tried to hide his smirk as the three arrived at the door, but Connor's father saw it and smiled tiredly.

"I know," he said "Kate wouldn't let him out the door this morning until she was sure he was going to be warm enough. Though he does get cold easily."

Connor and Abby ran inside the classroom, joining the rest of the kids in whatever they were doing. Lester nodded, making a mental note of that. If he let the kids out later today, he'd have to make sure Connor was warm enough. The others should be alright.

Connor's father left and Lester went back into the classroom, closing the door and sealing the heat inside.

"Alright, come on kids," he called "Let's get those coats off."

Half the kids had already pulled their coats off and had hung them on their special hooks on the far wall of the room. Unsurprisingly, it was Danny, Stephen, Becker and Connor who still hadn't managed to get that done – the first three were too excited about the snow to even think about doing anything other than bounce around and Connor… well, he was struggling.

Lester walked over and helped Connor peel off most of his layers of clothing. Soon he was relatively free and unrestricted. He thanked Lester and ran off to join the rest of the kids, the other boys having now hung their coats up and were back to playing around.

The kids were getting restless by mid-afternoon and Lester was trying to keep them occupied. But all they really wanted to do was go outside and play, so in the end there was nothing for it – he told them to go get their coats so they could play. The squeals and giggles that rung through the room as they all scrambled to get up and run for the hooks was deafening. Lester smiled as he helped Connor back into most of his layers. He had to straighten a few hats, make sure gloves were on properly, fix Jenny's buttons, put Nick's boots on the right feet, and keep Danny from climbing out the window, but finally all the kids were ready and waiting.

Lester opened the door and stood back as the class ran out into the snow, giggling. Danny flung himself face first into the snow, then pulled himself up and grinned.

"Cold!"

Lester felt like rolling his eyes as Danny, Becker and Stephen ran off to play. On the other side of the playground, three other children stood, chattering and playing in the snow. Helen was gathering up snow in her hands, while Nick and Jenny kicked and threw the snow up in the air. They were having so much fun, giggling and running around. Then Helen aimed the snowball in her hand and pelted it at Jenny. It hit her squarely in the back of her neck, probably sliding down her back. Jenny squealed in surprise and spun around, glaring. Nick stifled a laugh, then stopped when Jenny looked at him with wide, sad eyes. Helen packed another snowball and hurled it at Jenny again. Nick jumped out of the way as Jenny dodged the missile and hid behind the tree. Lester watched as she made her own cache of snowballs, throwing a few in Helen's direction. Most missed, but some hit their mark and slid down Helen's face or chest. It only made the girl more determined to keep hitting her, and the fight continued. Nick watched mostly, sometimes joining in and throwing a couple of snowballs. He was scattered with his targets, sometimes Jenny and sometimes Helen.

Lester felt someone tugging at his sleeve and he looked down to see Sarah. The little girl, dressed all in pink, looked sad and unhappy.

"No one will play with me!" she complained.

Lester thought of her child-crush on Becker and smiled, "Why don't you ask Becker and the boys if you can play with them? Unless you want to have a snowball fight with Jenny and Helen."

Sarah's face screwed up in disgust at the thought of a snowball fight, and ran off the join the boys. Lester wasn't sure what they were playing, but it involved running, hiding in snow, and throwing clumps of snow at each other.

Lester cast his gaze out for the last two children. Connor and Abby were on their own, simply having fun in each other's company. They were watching the snow still falling gently from the sky, holding gloved hands, smiling and laughing, their breath coming out in little clouds. When a snowflake landed perfectly on Connor's red nose, Abby giggled and Lester smiled. The snowflake melted quickly and Connor held out his hand to catch another. It landed softly, gently. Ever so carefully, Connor turned to show Abby, who smiled in amazement and then tried to catch her own.

"MR LESTER!" came a sad wail, and instantly the teacher was on guard. He turned and saw Sarah glaring angrily at two of the boys, the third standing back and watching on in confusion. Lester jogged over.

"What's going on?"

"They won't let me play with them either!" Sarah said, pointing at Danny and Stephen.

"Boys," Lester started "Why not?"

"'Cause she don't wanna play what we're playing!" Danny retorted, which Lester thought was fair enough. But they could at least try not to scream at each other. For once, he would like a day where Sarah and Danny didn't scream at each other. That would be the day.

Before Lester could say anything else though, Becker walked up to Sarah and held out his black-gloved hand.

"You wanna play with me?" he asked innocently.

Danny and Stephen poked their tongues out at their friend's back, but Sarah smiled and nodded. She took Becker's hand with her own pink-clad one. They both grinned and ran off, Danny grumbling under his breath about how now they couldn't play with Becker. But one look from Lester was enough for the boys to run off on their own and continue throwing snowballs at each other. Lester sighed, rolling his eyes and smiling. He walked back to the door, where he leaned and watched the kids play. Soon though, he noticed some of them looking a little cold. Connor especially was shivering despite the numerous layers he was wrapped up in.

"Come on kids!" he called "Time to come in!"

There were complaints all around, but eventually he managed to get them all inside. He helped them out of wet, snowy coats, and soon the heater in the room had them all warmed up. With a few words from their teacher, they all moved off to grab their pillows and settle down for a nap. All of them were exhausted from their playtime, no matter how bouncy some still were. Eventually they were all settled and asleep. Connor was curled up tightly like a cat, hair messy and thumb in his mouth where it probably shouldn't have been. Becker was on his side, lightly snoring beside Sarah whose hand rested on Becker's. Nick slept between Helen and Jenny as he always did; though this time Lester noticed he was a little closer to Helen this time rather than Jenny like he usually was. Danny took longer than any to settle, but once he had he was out like a light, on his tummy and hair in front of his face, blowing whenever he breathed.

Lester smiled as he watched the kids sleep. Yeah, there'd been a little chaos, a few tantrums, some of the kids had been less than good. But he couldn't see that much bad with the day. They'd had fun. And really, that was what being a kid was all about – having fun while you could. While everything was still innocent, and you could do what you wanted while no one judged you for it. Sometimes, Lester wished he could be a kid again. He could have fun and no one would say a thing about it. But then he looked at his kids – his kids, yeah – and knew he wouldn't give this up for the world.


	16. Learning Part 1 Letters

**It has been _forever_ since I updated this fic. I'm really sorry for how long it's taken, but I lost inspiration for the story and soon it had just been left for so long it was hard to get back into it. But I promised myself I would finish this fic and I will. This chapter is the first of a three-parter, then possibly another chapter or two before the final one. So not very long left, I'm afraid, but I won't let it go as long as it did to update this time. Primeval Preschool will probably be finished before the end of the year. **

**Anyway, here's the chapter and I hope you enjoy :) I know it's only short but I'm hoping the next ones will be longer.**

* * *

Lester really hoped he could get these kids to settle down for long enough to teach them something. He was _not_ going to have this class go through life illiterate. Of course, that was a little overdramatic but the man was determined to at least get some of the basics into these kids' heads before the end of the year.

But by the way the children were running riot around the place, it was going to be harder than he'd thought.

After ten minutes of threats, bribery and coercion, the kids were all sitting comfortably and listening attentively to his every word – wait, who was he kidding? Becker was pulling on Danny's hair, making the other pout and yell at him, Helen had stolen Stephen from the boys and the pair was off making fun of Nick and Jenny, and Sarah was in the middle of an argument with Connor and Abby about aliens.

"But they _are_real!" Connor was on the verge of tears as Sarah tried to debunk alien existence "My daddy said so!"

"No they aren't!" Sarah shot back "That's what my sister says!"

"You're just mean!" Abby shouted, stepping forward to defend her friend, small arms out to keep Connor behind her "Don't be mean!"

"Children!" Lester called in exasperation.

Some of them stopped to look at him, whilst the boys and Helen completely ignored him – typical. Lester quickly moved to the fighting boys, separating them before ushering Helen and Stephen away from their targets to sit them down firmly in the middle of the room. Connor, Abby and Sarah were already there, Abby shooting the other girl dirty looks as Connor stared at the floor sadly. Nick and Jenny raced to sit by them, both a little upset at the torment they'd just experienced. Danny and Becker were kept apart, glaring at each other with arms folded.

At last they were all quiet and Lester sighed in relief. He might actually get some peace today.

"Now, you all know some of your letters, right?" he said, sitting down in front of them cross-legged.

There were reluctant nods from around the room, glares still being fixed on certain people – today was not a good day. It hadn't been from the moment they'd arrived. It seemed all the kids had been in a bad mood from the start and since then the entire day had just deteriorated to this.

"Well, we're going to play a game."

At the mention of a game the boys and girls instantly quietened any muttering and were paying full attention to their teacher. No matter what, they were always up for a good game.

"I'm going to call out a letter, and all of you have to try and find something that begins with that letter," he explained "You have to be fast so you can find things first. It's like a race."

"Cool!" Becker bounced up and down, excited. All the children got to their feet quickly and were ready to go in seconds. Lester smiled and called out the first letter.

"A!"

They all ran off in different directions, hunting. It was surprising to hear Danny call out so quickly after only a minute or so, but it certainly wasn't surprising where he'd found his object.

"Apple!" he said, proudly holding up the apple core he'd just pawed through the bin for. Lester sighed and ran a hand through his hair – that boy would be the death of him, he swore.

"Alright, B!"

The shout to answer that came in seconds.

"Book!" Sarah held one up from the bookshelves with a grin.

"C!"

The scuffle was longer this time as kids scrambled to find something first. At last Helen spoke up gleefully, pointing at her painting that was tacked to one of the classroom walls.

"Cat!"

Lester let that one slide – the picture honestly could have been anything, but Helen had painted it so he supposed she knew what it was. He called out the next letter, Connor jumping up and down as he shouted out the answer with a massive smile, holding one of the toy dinosaurs in his hands.

"Dinosaur!"

"E!"

"Ear!" half a dozen of the children called out, pointing to their friends.

Lester chuckled, "F!"

"Fairy!"

"G!"

"Girl!" Jenny said with a wide grin.

"H!"

Becker pointed to Connor's hat that was hung up on his hook on the far wall, "Hat!"

The game continued, with kids shouting out whatever they could find that sounded as if they remotely started with the right letter. The Indian Chief headband from the dress-up box and a jar containing buttons were rattled off, along with Jenny's kitty mask and the lizard that was climbing the wall just outside the door. Mr Lester was shouted out for 'M', the nest in the tree outside for 'N' and Danny once again searched through the bin to find orange peel for 'O'. Pillows, a queen's crown (Lester let them have that one), a ribbon from Sarah's hair and Stephen's scarf were quickly found. The playground's tree was 'T', Lester's umbrella was 'U' and the kids' model volcano was 'V' (worst science idea _ever_). Water was an easy choice for W, but after that things started to get more difficult.

"Mr Lester, what starts with X?" Nick asked curiously after a few minutes of fruitless searching.

There was an excited shout of "I know!" from Abby who proudly pulled out the class's xylophone, "That begins with X?"

Lester nodded, "Y, now."

"That's easy," Connor giggled, tugging on Abby's t-shirt "Yellow!"

"And Z?"

That one was puzzling. The children wandered around the room in vain, seemingly unable to find anything. Lester could tell they were tiring and it was almost time for them to have a nap, but they were determined to finish their game before they slept. Finally, just when Lester thought he might have to cut the game short and make the kids stop, Nick held up one of the model animals stashed beneath a table.

"ZEBRA!"

Everyone cheered, their celebration intermixed with yawns and heavy eyelids. Very quickly Lester had them all settled down for a nap and minutes after that the room was almost silent. Only the sounds of light, steady breathing echoed in the classroom as Lester sat down in his chair to watch over them.

It had gone better than he'd thought, and that was always a good thing. He was sure there'd be chaos and tears tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. But that was all part of the job. In between all the chaos and tears, there were smiles and fun and all that cute stuff.

Lester wouldn't have it any other way.


	17. Learning Part 2 Numbers

**Part two of the Learning arc. Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Some Lester loving here, because he needs it :)**

* * *

Lester was quite proud of his kids. They were learning so fast and when they left at the end of the year he was sure they would be more than ready for their next adventure in the school world.

But they still had a way to go.

"We're going to learn about numbers today," he said once he had the children settled down (finally) and they were all listening to some degree. Some of the kids perked up and smiled at this while others groaned in annoyance.

"Numbers are hard," Danny complained.

Stephen and Abby echoed his opinion while Connor looked pleased, alongside Nick who giggled to himself. Lester waited for a moment until they were quiet again before continuing.

"Who knows all their numbers?"

Connor's hand shot up and he said gleefully, "I can count all the way to twenty!"

"Me too!" Nick added.

Lester smiled at their eagerness, "How about we just stick to ten?"

"I don't like numbers," Stephen announced and Danny backed him up "They're dumb."

"Numbers are very important Stephen," Lester said "Otherwise, how would you know how old you were?"

"I'm four," the boy said proudly "I still don't like numbers."

"Well, we're going to play a counting game. You might have fun."

"A game!" Suddenly a lot of the kids seemed more interested in this lesson. Lester smiled and explained the rules of the game.

"I'm going to give each of you a number and you all have to go and find enough of the same thing to make up that number."

The kids nodded and Lester quickly gave out the numbers. With nine children all he'd had to do was skip the number one. Soon enough they were running about the room and the playground outside, looking for as many objects as they needed to make up their number. Helen made it back first, having had the lowest number. She proudly gave Lester two blades of grass from outside. The teacher sighed to himself but technically she'd gotten it right so he told her to sit down and wait for the others to finish. Soon enough Stephen and Danny came running up, Becker close behind.

"What do you have?" Lester asked as the three boys jostled to get in first. Danny won and handed his teacher five books from the bookshelf. Stephen pushed in next to show him three of the masks they'd made earlier in the year that he'd pulled from the box they were stored in. Becker finished with a presentation of the eight paint pots he'd managed to round up. With a 'well done', Lester asked them to sit and wait. Danny was incredibly pleased with himself and as he sat down next to Helen he smiled at her.

"I did it," he said proudly.

"Me too, silly," Helen replied.

Meanwhile, Lester's attention was drawn away to Jenny and Nick approaching. Jenny smiled shyly as she gave Lester six of the various toys from the toy box. Nick waited until she had sat down before giving his teacher the nine leaves he'd picked up outside from under the tree.

"Good job," Lester smiled.

Just as Nick moved away, Sarah raced up, grinning, "Look! Seven!"

She showed off the seven paintbrushes she'd collected. Lester congratulated her and she plopped down beside Becker.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"Paint," he replied with a shy smile.

"I found paintbrushes!" she said excitedly, making the boy's smile wider and Danny snigger. Stephen poked him and glared, distracting the blonde boy as Becker and Sarah struck up a conversation about painting.

Lester smiled, but was distracted by a grumble from outside.

"_Conn_or," Abby complained "Come on!"

"Coming!" the boy called and a moment later the pair made their way into the classroom. Stopping in front of Lester, Connor proudly gave him ten feathers from various different birds.

"Where did you get all of these?" Lester asked, impressed.

The little bot shrugged, "In the playground."

Abby pushed past to show Lester her four objects. He winced and screwed up his nose at the crawling insects on her palm.

"Good job Abby, but maybe you should put them back outside," Lester hesitated "I'm sure they'd want to go home."

The girl nodded and rushed outside, blonde hair flying. She deposited the bugs on the ground before running back and falling into a heap next to Connor.

"You all did a great job," Lester smiled "I'm so proud of you. Now how about we do some counting?"

He went over the objects with the kids, helping them count each pile that he'd laid on the floor down from ten and letting Abby explain why the group of four was missing. Finally they got all the way to Helen's two blades of grass. Just as Lester was about to end their lesson and let them off to play, Sarah spoke loudly.

"What about number one?"

"Yeah, we need one of somethin' to finish," Danny agreed.

Lester opened his mouth to speak but was once again cut off – this time by Helen.

"I know! Mr Lester!"

She ran over to him and wrapped her small arms around his legs, surprising the teacher. "There's only one Mr Lester!"

Some of the other children got up and raced over, joining Helen in hugging him. Danny and Becker were the last to come up, just after Stephen and Abby. Lester was suddenly lost in the midst of the group hug and, slightly bewildered, he patted some of their backs before they broke away.

"Alright, go play," he chuckled and they all squealed, running off to the playground. Lester wandered over to the window to watch them. As Abby went to check on her bugs, protecting them from Stephen's feet, and Becker and Danny ran straight for the tree to play cops and robbers, and Nick and Jenny ran off to the sandpit to play, Lester smiled absently.

He wouldn't trade his kids for the world.


End file.
